Our Enemy (Hix)

1 Peter 5:8-Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Be Sober-Be restrained, be self-denying….A good verse to remember when we are thinking about this state of mind…Romans 13:14-But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

Every hear the sayings: He is drunk with power!

We can be intoxicated with fame, power, lust, money and the list goes on and on.

Be Vigilant-Watchful, Alert

Peter is going to tell us why we need to sober and watchful, remember he is speaking from experience.

One minute, he is saying to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” and the next minute Jesus is saying to him, “Get behind Me, Satan.”

One minute, Jesus is asking Peter to pray for Him, and the next minute, Jesus is having to wake Peter from his sleep. (The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak)

One minute, Peter is telling Jesus, he would never deny Him, and the next minute, the rooster has crowed and Peter has denied Him three times.

Because Your Adversary The Devil

You see how personal that statement is…Your adversary!

He is your opponent, your adversary, your foe, your enemy, your rival, and your opposition!

Jesus never called the Pharisee, the Scribes, the religious leaders, His enemy, He called the white washed tombs, that their father was the father of lies.

Never once did He call them His enemy, He knew they were not the enemy!

You and I can focus on people, political parties, corporations, or different ethnic groups, and we began to believe they are our enemies.

But the truth is they are not the enemy, the may be used by the enemy, they may be tricked by the enemy, they may be bamboozled by the enemy, but the true enemy is Satan!!

He will do whatever he can to cause a non-believer, never to believe and an effective believer to become an ineffective believer.

A Roaring Lion-Now Peter could be referring to the persecution that was occurring in his day, people were being beheaded, sawed into, burned at the stake, and feed to the lions.

But maybe he making reference, that Satan is good at intimidating his opponent.

Let me give you an example…Have you ever begin to worry about something that could happen, so much that you made yourself sick.

You actually made the situation worse, by overreacting, or trying to solve the issue yourself.

I was cleaning the garage the other day and I was sitting on the floor and I moved a can and snake come crawling towards me, I jumped up real fast (My son said, “I never seen you move so fast.) it was a small snake and I don’t think it could have really hut me, but it almost made me hurt myself.

The devil can’t harm us without God’s permission and without us given in to his tricks, but he can fool us into hurting our self!

He is a roaring lion, he is not a sleeping lion!

Seeking Whom He May Devour

Satan is not going to win the war, but he sure is winning some battles!

We need to make sure he doesn’t take any more territory from our lives.

That he doesn’t take any more prisoners in our family, in our community, in our state, in our nation.

He May-That is why we need to pray for one another, that we won’t be vulnerable to the wiles and ways of Satan.